In a 1,200 SF typical high-rise apartment unit located on a lush plateau, the panorama of Hong Kong Island and its landscape offers a desirable vista in the otherwise hyper-dense city.

The design strategy is driven by the desire to embrace the context—to bring both the mountain and the skyline beyond back into the living space. This “constructed picture plane”, at its maximum effect, functions as a glass curtain to extend the connection between private life and urban environment while giving a new façade/separation to this eleventh-floor unit. A limestone wall, stretching the entire length of the unit, further emphasizes the extended interior space. The stone wall folds and turns into a stone floor that captures the glass wall at what used to be the outdoor terrace.

Opposite to the tactile limestone wall, a floor-to-ceiling frosted glass panel slides across the corridor and overlaps with stainless steel clad bathroom wall with cantilevering corner glass shelves. Another piece of frosted glass panel between the exposed concrete column and red velvet curtain that hides the entrance is inserted to keep the kitchen both concealed and revealed.

It is through contrasts of material, texture, light, color, situations and events that this complex yet harmonious living environment emerges out of the generic ‘flat space.’